Paper Lanterns
by SinceILeftYou
Summary: Five friends; each brought together by one extraordinary person, by one loss. Five friends; each about to part ways after one final meeting. Oneshot.


**A/N: Not having a laptop makes writing fanfics hard; still, I managed to come up with this (and half a chapter of Tag You're It in case anyone was wondering ^^). I'm very happy because I've finally managed to write something with Wrex in (yeyy). **  
**I got an idea on bonfire night (odd British custom) when I looked out of my window and a load of people had let off paper lanterns into the sky: I then knew I just HAD to write this. **

**If you liked this then tell me/read my other works/build a shrine to me in your kitchen etc etc etc. +All the usual disclaimer stuff so Bioware/EA won't sue me :P**

* * *

Paper Lanterns

It was a beautiful day for a funeral: The artificial sunlight beat down on the onlookers whilst the sickly sweet smell of rows and rows of white roses and lilies clung to the air. The pattern of the flowers started off sparse to begin with; dotted about here and there within the back rows, but accumulating into a stronger and stronger pattern as they neared the more forward rows. Finally, they reached a crescendo around one person...

Or rather one thing: The coffin was empty.

Contrasting almost poetically with the flowers were beings of all species in the traditional human mourning colour of black, almost all of them crying. Liara glanced nervously down and her hands. It was ironic: Ever since she had heard the news, she hadn't shed one tear. Did any of these people even know her? Of course not, most of them were only here for show. Were any of them imagining her sitting cross legged on the floor, nose crinkled up with laughter as she joked about how if she ever died in service they should just nail her in a wooden coffin, space her and be done with it? She certainly wouldn't have wanted this. Liara seethed inside; Savior of the Citadel and nobody even stopped to think about what she would have wanted. Barely any flowers were around her; it seemed most of the better seats had been allocated to those that could pay for them: Not those who had been close to her, those who _deserved_ them. Garrus was right about the Citadel: It was all face and no feeling.

He was now sitting just in front of her, his face bowed and mandibles pushed forward in a permanent frown. She glanced up away from him and toward the speaker, a high ranking Alliance official droning a load of sentimental, cliche nonsense about how she gave her life to stop the impeding threat of the Geth and it was "now imbedded in her legacy for each and every one of us all to take up the mantle and continue the fight". Trust the human Alliance to turn a funeral into an Alliance recruitment advertisement.

Blinded with tears, beings all around her stood up to applaud the official as he finished the speech: Making the most of the oppotunity, Garrus reached back and handed her an envelope. She threw him a puzzled look but was only given a slight headshake in return; when she was sure nobody was looking, she opened it up and found a message with a paper lantern inside.

_Liara,__  
Figured it would be a pile of bureaucratic crap. Meet me and the rest of the crew at 2300 hours in (what's left of) the Presidium gardens? Bring the lantern with you._  
_-Garrus_

Liara smiled inwardly; if there was anyone in the room who hated how fake the affair had become, it would be Garrus.

* * *

Liara hurried, she was running late.

"Sorry; I'm not late am I?"

In stark contrast to the area cleared up for the funeral, the Presidium gardens were still a complete wreck. The whole area was cloaked in an etheral darkness, unnatural for the citadel; any trees which were left had been stripped bare of any leaves and stood crookedly about the area. The mud collected around Liara's feet, a sore reminder of the once luscious green grass which stood in it's place.

"No, we're still waiting on Wrex anyway," Tali repied cooly; her voice bland and croaky.

"I say he doesn't turn up," Ashley folded her arms. "He looked as much so when I gave him his envelope."

"This is amazing," Liara glanced around the gloomy area "I thought that the Presidium was closed to the general public until repairs were finished."

"Thank Garrus, he's the one who sorted this out." Tali looked towards the Turian.

"Yeah, one of the groundskeepers here owed me favour so I figured now would be a good a time as any to collect on it."

"Thank you Garrus, I definitely think she would have wanted this."

Garrus coughed awkwardly "Actually, it was more Ashley and Tali's idea, I just came up with-"

"I should have known you girls would be planning something." Wrex interupted, sauntering up to the group.

"You've had a very emotional day Wrex, so I'm going to let that remark slide."

"Like you'd have a chance against me Turian. Hah!"

"Hey, just remember that you still owe me from that time I saved your ass back on Noveria."

"You saved _my_ ass? The way I remember it-"

"Shut up! How can you be joking on a day like today?" Tali's voice was on the verge of breaking.

"She was a damn fine warrior, one of the finest out there: She deserves respect, not tears." Wrex's voice was unfaltering.

"Likewise," Garrus added. "I'm done grieving her; I want to go out there and be the best spectre I can be in her memory instead, none of this patriotic 'fight the Geth' crap."

Liara sensed from Tali's bowed head that if someone didn't diffuse the situation soon, she would have a breakdown.

"How is Spectre training going Garrus?" she asked.

"It's actually going great," through the sadness, his voice was saturated with enthuisiasm "well, except that the thought that I'm becoming like her is damn near killing my father. I wonder if he'll ever say her name like it isn't some derogatory term..."

"Thing's still strained at home then?"

"Mmm. Most of the time it turns into a big argument between me and him." He paused "I'd rather not talk about it now though; today is about remembering her, not my problems."

"So, where do you think you'll go after this Wrex?" Ashley asked.

"Hell if I know. I'll probably go find some more work as a merc. Not like there's anything else in the Galaxy for me to do. Yourself human?"

"I'm Williams: Born a soldier, live a soldier, die a soldier."

"Well, good luck with that."

An awkward pause filled the air around them; nobody wanted to make eyecontact with eachother.

"We're not..." Liara started; should she say the eleven words on everyone's mind right now?

_We're not going to see each other ever again, are we?_

"Well let's get started then." Ashley quickly interupted, her voice thick. "We thought each of us should light a paper lantern, say a few words about her and let it go. As a final salute to one of the greatest heroes who ever lived."

"I'll start." Tali lit her lantern and the smoke cascaded in the air around her. "Because she gave me place where I was always accepted, where I was always welcome..."

As she let go of the lantern, her shoulders started shaking.

Garrus lit his "Because she showed me there is more to this Galaxy than the Citadel."

The light of his lantern joined Tali's.

Ashley lit hers. "Because she was always there to make the difficult decisions when the rest of us couldn't." She looked up from her lantern to the rest of the group. "And for Kaiden too."

Three lights were now floating up towards the night sky.

Wrex didn't even wait to let his go before lighting.

"Damn fine warrior."

Now it was Liara's turn; she looked up, through her tears she saw four pairs of eyes focused on her expectantly. What was there she could possibly say? I'm sorry I didn't stop you when you ran off to get Joker? I think about you every day?

I love you.

She said the one word everyone had been trying to avoid saying.

"Because... be-because she was Shepard."

Liara closed her eyes and felt the lantern slip from her grasp as the tears cascaded down her cheeks.

There were no words which needed to be said now, no exchange of pleasantries, no final goodbyes: All that was left to do now was to stand in silence and watch as, one by one, each light finally faded away into the impenetrable blackness of the night sky; where she lay somewhere.

_We'll always remember you Shepard._


End file.
